State v. Berning

── State v. Berning ── Court: Ohio Court of Appeals Date: May 15, 2026 Author: Christine Mayle Category: General [Cite as State v. Berning, 2026-Ohio-1799.] IN THE COURT OF APPEALS OF OHIO SIXTH APPELLATE DISTRICT LUCAS COUNTY State of Ohio Court of Appeals No. L-25-00200 Appellee Trial Court No. CR0202500528 v. Matthew Berning DECISION AND JUDGMENT Appellant Decided: May 15, 2026 ***** Julia R. Bates, Lucas County Prosecuting Attorney, and Garrett W. Dolly, Assistant Prosecuting Attorney, for appellee. Tyler Naud Jechura, for appellant. ***** MAYLE, J. {¶ 1} Appellant, Matthew Berning, appeals the August 12, 2025 judgment of the Lucas County Court of Common Pleas sentencing him to 18 months in prison and 180 days in the Corrections Center of Northwest Ohio, to be served concurrently, after a jury found him guilty of one count of strangulation in violation of R.C. 2903.18(B)(3) and (C)(3), a felony of the fourth degree; and one count of domestic violence, in violation of R.C. 2919.25(A) and (D)(2), a misdemeanor of the first degree. The sole issue before this court is whether the trial court abused its discretion in admitting the 911 call that led to Berning’s arrest. For the following reasons, we affirm. I. Factual and Procedural Background {¶ 2} On April 7, 2025, Toledo Police responded to an open-line 911 call from the residence that Matthew Berning shared with the victim in this case, his ex-girlfriend, C.R. In the call, a woman’s voice could be heard yelling for “Matt” to “get off of me” and “stop,” and repeatedly yelling that “he’s choking me.” When the officers arrived at the residence, they kicked the front door open and found Berning undressed from the waist down and on top of C.R. After the officers spoke with C.R., Berning was placed under arrest. {¶ 3} On April 17, 2025, Berning was indicted on one count of strangulation and one count of domestic violence. He was arraigned days later and entered a plea of not guilty to both charges. The case was tried before a jury beginning July 21, 2025. The State presented the testimony of four witnesses—Lieutenant Philip Cook, C.R., Officer Jordan Freimark, and Detective Peter Siwa. The defense did not present any witnesses. A. Lieutenant Philip Cook’s Testimony {¶ 4} Lieutenant Cook was the State’s first witness. He explained that he was assigned as the Toledo Police Department’s (“TPD”) communication all-hazard liaison and homeland security coordinator. Lieutenant Cook noted that part of this job included becoming the record custodian for recorded 911 calls. He described the recording and storage system, as well as his duties to process and retrieve requested calls. He further 2. explained that both the 911 recordings and their corresponding incident detail reports are kept in the ordinary course of business for TPD. {¶ 5} Turning to the 911 call at issue in this case, Lieutenant Cook testified that he was familiar with that call and had reviewed both the 911 call and its incident detail report. Lieutenant Cook confirmed that the 911 call was an “open-line” call and explained that in an “open-line” call, the caller does not respond, however, the 911 operator will still leave the line open and enter any information they hear into the database. Lieutenant Cook read several comments in the detail report that had been entered by the 911 operator—“[f]emale saying, get off of me Matt”; “[s]till open line. Female saying help, he’s choking me”; “[s]aying, stop, you’re hurting me”; “[f]emale screaming and yelling again, Matt, I have to pee. Listen to me. Please stop”; and “[f]emale